By Richard Johnstone | 6 October 2014
Welfare spending cuts mean that three-quarters of councils will have to scrap or significantly reduce support schemes for vulnerable people from next April, the Local Government Association has warned.
The umbrella group of town halls said the government’s decision to end the Local Welfare Assistance Fund in 2015/16, on top of other cuts to local government, meant much assistance could no longer be offered.
Since the £347m Social Fund for crisis loans was devolved to local authorities in April 2013, councils have set up schemes to help thousands of people going through a time of crisis or transition, Claire Kober, the chair of the LGA’s resources board, said. These include people facing the threat of homelessness, families struggling to afford food and care leavers setting up home for the first time.
The value of the fund, which replaced crisis loans previously provided by the Department for Work and Pensions’ Social Fund, fell to £175m in 2013/14 and £172m this year, ahead of abolition next April.
However, as the funding is removed, nearly 15% of respondents to an LGA survey of single and upper-tier councils said this would end the local support initiatives altogether. A further 39% said they would be significantly scaled back, while nearly 13% said that they would be subject to a ‘fair amount’ of cuts. Only 8% of those polled said it would have no effect.
Following a legal challenge the government has now committed to consulting on its funding decision, and Kober urged ministers to use this as an opportunity to reverse the decision.
‘By helping people at an early stage and targeting support at where it is needed most, we have been able to assist people in their time of need and prevent short-term problems escalating.
‘We think the government has made the wrong decision to remove the funding for this safety net and it was misjudged to have done so, especially without councils having the opportunity to show what the consequences of such a move might be.
‘If government pulls the plug on funding from April, many local authorities will be unable to afford to make up the difference at a time when we are tackling the biggest cuts to council funding in living memory.’
Although councils will do everything in their power to support vulnerable people, with less money this will be increasingly difficult, she added. ‘For some local authorities, where budgets are already on the brink, they will have no choice but to close their local welfare assistance schemes down altogether.
‘With government now agreeing to consult councils, it brings an important opportunity to reconsider, or we risk letting down people when they are most in need of help.’
